Published on ShanghaiDaily.com (http://www.shanghaidaily.com/)
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2008/200812/20081220/article_385215.htm
UnionPay to ride on Expo to expand
Created: 2008-12-20 1:01:39
Author:Zhang Fengming
CHINA UnionPay Co plans to increase its merchant coverage to more than 80 percent in Shanghai in the main commercial and business areas by 2010 before the city hosts the World Expo, the company said yesterday.
UnionPay is riding on the Shanghai World Expo to expand its network in the Yangtze River Delta region, including adding more merchants, automatic teller machines and point of sale machines. The firm plans more efforts to link a bigger number of small and medium merchants to the network.
By 2010, more than 60 percent of merchants in major commercial areas in nearby cities such as Nanjing, Hangzhou and Ningbo are expected to be linked to UnionPay system. The expected merchant coverage in cities such as Suzhou, Wuxi and Shaoxing will be more than 40 percent, said Xu Xiaoqiang, general manager of UnionPay's department of marketing and customer services, yesterday at a forum in Shanghai. The company declined to disclose the existing merchant coverage.
Shanghai-based UnionPay is moving in line with the central bank in building up China's bank card system. China is encouraging the use of bank cards to help cut money laundering, smooth consumer payments and make it easier to track merchants' business transactions and tax payments.
About 211,000 merchants in the Yangtze River Delta region have joined UnionPay system as at the end of last month, accounting for 18.6 percent of the country's total. Meanwhile, about 399,000 POS machines have been installed in the region, or 22.5 percent of the country's total.
Bank card-based consumption topped 559.1 billion yuan (US$81.62 billion) in the region at the end of last year, contributing to 24.5 percent of the country's total.
UnionPay has a network in 50 countries and regions now.
UnionPay is riding on the Shanghai World Expo to expand its network in the Yangtze River Delta region, including adding more merchants, automatic teller machines and point of sale machines. The firm plans more efforts to link a bigger number of small and medium merchants to the network.
By 2010, more than 60 percent of merchants in major commercial areas in nearby cities such as Nanjing, Hangzhou and Ningbo are expected to be linked to UnionPay system. The expected merchant coverage in cities such as Suzhou, Wuxi and Shaoxing will be more than 40 percent, said Xu Xiaoqiang, general manager of UnionPay's department of marketing and customer services, yesterday at a forum in Shanghai. The company declined to disclose the existing merchant coverage.
Shanghai-based UnionPay is moving in line with the central bank in building up China's bank card system. China is encouraging the use of bank cards to help cut money laundering, smooth consumer payments and make it easier to track merchants' business transactions and tax payments.
About 211,000 merchants in the Yangtze River Delta region have joined UnionPay system as at the end of last month, accounting for 18.6 percent of the country's total. Meanwhile, about 399,000 POS machines have been installed in the region, or 22.5 percent of the country's total.
Bank card-based consumption topped 559.1 billion yuan (US$81.62 billion) in the region at the end of last year, contributing to 24.5 percent of the country's total.
UnionPay has a network in 50 countries and regions now.
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